The trade freed up nearly $6 million in payroll, and will allow the Boston front office to make a hard push for one of the remaining free agent starters. Mortensen isn't much of a prize, having posted a rough 5.12 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in 95 career innings pitched. He will function as rotation depth for the Red Sox

I'm guessing around 10 million if the Rockies picked up scuturos full contract ...Posted by RawckinSox

I believe that Scutaro's salary is $6 mil. Oswalt supposedly is willing to sign a 1 year deal. He would be a good fit. Similar to the Yankees signing Kuroda....good pitcher who should be able to give us some innings. Only concerns are recent injuries and he hasn't pitched in the A.L.

I understand Oswalt for a year, hopefully a RS favorable contract but what does Ross bring to the table that we don't already have. Am I missing something or did I misread but a 240 lifetime average doesn't impress.

I understand Oswalt for a year, hopefully a RS favorable contract but what does Ross bring to the table that we don't already have. Am I missing something or did I misread but a 240 lifetime average doesn't impress. Posted by never1954

A career .912 career OPS vs LHP, which helps if they platoon him with Sweeney

I understand Oswalt for a year, hopefully a RS favorable contract but what does Ross bring to the table that we don't already have. Am I missing something or did I misread but a 240 lifetime average doesn't impress. Posted by never1954

You did misread: his career BA is .261.

His career numbers are very encouraging, particularly vs LHPs.

Overall (per 691 PAs):

.261 25 93 (OBP .323/SLG .456/OPS .779)

vs LHPs (per 683 PAs):

.282 41 125 (OBP .349/SLG .563/OPS .912)

Couple him with Sweeney, and their combined cost is just about $4M more than Reddick/DMac.

(Sidenote: Our RF OPS was about .650 in 2011, and Sweeney had a career .754 OPS vs RHPs-- I'm thinking they can combine for an OPs over .800).

Look, we have to recalibrate our expectations this year. This is not a championship team unless the Trio of Beckett/Lester/Buck ALL STEP UP....Given I am not counting on that I am willing to write this off 2012 being the mess that Theo left us with. Furthermore, remember the competition is very strong this year - Rays, Rangers, Angels and Tigers are the favorites to make the playoffs this season. Best we hold onto to our prospects and $ and come out strong for 2013.

"If a Player Option Year falls in the 2012 Contract Year or later, and the Base Salary (plus any attributed Signing Bonus, deferred compensation or annuity costs) in the Player Option Year (“Player Option Year Value”) is less than 80% of the Base Salary (plus any attributed Signing Bonus, deferred compensation or annuity costs) in the Guaranteed Year with the smallest such figure before the first such Player Option Year (80% Figure), then the difference between the 80% Figure and the Player Option Year Value shall be allocated pro rata across the Guaranteed Years preceding the first such Player Option Year; provided, however, that if the 80% Figure is itself less than 75% of the Average Annual Value of the Contract (calculated as if the Player Option Year was not a Guaranteed Year), then the 80% Figure shall instead be 75% of the Average Annual Value calculation set out immediately above."

Basically, since his player option was less than 80% of his lowest years guaranteed salary, the difference between 80% of his $5M salary and his player option (0.8 * $5M - $3M = $1M) should be prorated throughout the guaranteed years of his contract excluding his player option year. This would mean that (barring any changes in the new CBA) Scoot's tax hit was only scheduled to be about $5M for 2012, even with the Sox picking up his $6M option, because at the end of a contract, the total CBT charge must equal the total money paid to the player, with some corrections occurring in the next season, such as with Beltre when we had the $3M tax hit for him last year, because of how his player option was structured.

If the bonus is counted as prorated through the first 2 years of his deal, it would be $1.4M of the player option prorated over the first 2 seasons, bringing his 2012 cap hit down to $4.6M.